Slow Motion
by koilike
Summary: A sleepless night takes Ekko to the beach, where his peaceful evening is interrupted by exploding zeppelins and a girl who is anything but relaxing to be around. Ever since they were kids Jinx had frustrated him to no end with her volatile personality, and yet here he was years later, transfixed by the image of that very same girl lying serenely under the skyward lights.


Omfg ok so my brother got me into LoL about two weeks ago and I immediately fell in love with Jinx and this ship it's actually the cutest thing in the world and u can bet ur ass I've read every fanfic on here about it

I haven't actually written anything at all since I was 11 and used to write Warriors fanfics (lmao kill me) so sorry if this if out-of-character or unnatural or just bad ahah I just needed some kind out outlet for my raging love of this ship and it's 1:43am so what better way than to write some shitty fanfiction amirite

Glhf!

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After 4 hours of trying to get to sleep without success, and having had enough of the sounds of periodic gunshots, yelling, scurrying rats, and clanging metal- the constant background music of Zaun- Ekko grabbed a jacket and decided to chance the late-night dangers on the streets, making his way through the winding alleys until he reached the coastline. He liked it here; he'd been going ever since he was a kid. The glimmering lights of Piltover from above reflected beautifully in the sea, and the sound of the waves relaxed him.  
Mostly he liked it because it was a prime viewing spot to watch the zeppelins floating above. Being a city thriving on its trade industry, Piltover had them coming in and out at all hours of the day and night; to Noxus, Bilgewater, Bandle City, practically everywhere in Runeterra. There was something Ekko found rather enchanting about the plump balloons wafting through the sky, and he often imagined what it would be like to be inside one and look down at the ground below.

That is, until one of them erupted in flames and fell from the air, hurtling towards the ocean. Ekko's jaw dropped and he leapt to his feet seconds before the same fate befell another zeppelin, watching helplessly as it hit the water and began to get sucked down beneath the glittering waves. The explosions continued and the zeppelins dropped like rocks out of the sky while Ekko frantically tried to think of something he could do. Turning back time would do nothing; there was no way he would be able to figure out what was causing such chaos in time to prevent it. All he could do was watch helplessly.  
Another zeppelin hit the water only a few metres away from the shore, and Ekko was promptly hit by the splash caused by the balloon. A raucous laugh came from behind him, and Ekko's heart sank as he realized who the perpetrator was. Jinx.

Ekko whipped around. "Jinx! Are you crazy?" His heart sank at the huge grin on her face. "Actually, no need to answer that."

"Hiya! How's it going?" The blue-haired girl strolled over to the edge of the water where Ekko had been sitting and plopped down on the ground, stretching out her legs and yawning loudly. "Pretty view, right?"

"It was until you blew it up!" Ekko spat. "You're ridiculous."  
He cast a look around to check that Caitlyn and her gang hadn't managed to find and locate Piltover's faithful terrorist, then went and sat beside her in defeat. He groaned- of course it had to be Jinx.

Jinx vaguely glanced at him. "Geez, what's got you so down in the dumps?"

Ekko's eye twitched. "You're kidding, right? Please tell me you're kidding."

The girl frustrated him to no end; the value of life- or anything, really- seemed to mean nothing to her if she could gain entertainment from it, but he also knew that she had the potential to be unexpectedly sensitive back when they lived with the other homeless kids in Zaun. Surely she hadn't changed that much since then...

Having briefly zoned out thinking about the past, Ekko hadn't noticed Jinx flop onto her back. He looked over to see her stretched out with her hands folded behind her head and a faint smile on her face, as if she had remembered something that amused her. The glittering lights from Piltover created a sparkle in her eye and Ekko felt his chest hitch slightly at how she looked in the faint overhead glow. He hardly ever saw her without a manic grin on her face, and she was actually quite beautiful when she wasn't on a destructive frenzy.  
He'd developed a crush on the girl way back when it was him, and Vi, and Ajuna, and the rest of the homeless kids who lived in Zaun. He was getting ever-closer to maturity at the time, so it was no surprise that such an attraction would crop up at some point. Ekko had simply entertained the feelings without doing much to pursue them, other than childish actions like pulling dumb stunts to try and impress Jinx, but he knew they'd fade eventually as he grew up.

And yet here he was years later, transfixed by the image of that very same girl lying serenely under the skyward lights. After the gang fell apart and Jinx turned into, well, Jinx, Ekko had been plagued with longing for the past. His whole world felt like a vanishing mirage, leaving him alone and dispirited. Even his feelings for Jinx waned after not seeing her for so long during her reign over Piltover (and partly due to what that reign actually entailed), but every time he saw her again he got drawn straight back in.  
Her carefree spirit, her love of adventure, her sharp wit and her ability to make everything fun; all that Ekko had ever loved about the girl was still there beneath her manic exterior.

As if she heard the mention of the word 'manic' in Ekko's internal monologue and felt she needed to snap out of her unusual quiet, Jinx sprang to her feet and briskly walked the few paces to the edge of the water before starting to take off her various weaponry, shorts and shoes.

"Isn't it a bit morbid to go swimming surrounded by all the zeppelins you shot out of the sky?" Ekko quipped with an exasperated shake of his head.

"Of course not!" Jinx chirped back. "I'm honouring the fallen." She giggled and charged into the water, wasting no time in testing the temperature. After making her way a few metres out from the shore, she dove beneath the waves and popped up a few seconds later with a playful grin on her face.

"Come swim!" She called.

Ekko laughed, "Thanks, but I'll pass. I prefer not freezing my butt off surrounded by wrecked blimps, though I do see the appeal."

Jinx splashed water in his direction with a pout. "Boooooriiing!" She called before dipping her head under the water once more.

As it turned out, the mischief Jinx was capable of was by no means restricted to the land. The blimp which had landed close to the shore and splashed Ekko earlier was still nearby and floating optimistically, so naturally Jinx started to clamber on top of it. Panting, she stood up and beamed at Ekko.

"I did it!" She cheered, bouncing up and down on top of the zeppelin. She continued bouncing as she gleefully shouted, getting higher and higher in the air. Her smile spanned her face even more as she managed to get more than a metre above the blimp, before turning into shock on a crooked landing which launched her out on an angle and sent her plummeting into the water with an inelegant splash.  
Her head popped up above the waves a moment later and she spluttered, looking very much fed up with her involuntary re-entry into the water.

Ekko laughed at both her fall and her reaction. "Hey, that was pretty graceful!" He called. "Didn't know you were the gymnastic type!"

Jinx sneered at him as she paddled towards the shore, briefly shaking several drops of water off herself before pulling her shorts back on. She picked up her assortment of weapons and ammunition, strapping it all back onto herself so effortlessly that she must have done it a thousand times. After squeezing as much water as she could out of her braids, she sat back down beside Ekko.

"So," she began, "howya doin?"

Ekko smirked. "Fine, just the same old scraping by on the bare minimum and trying not to get killed by thugs. It's never not exciting, you know, you really shouldn't have left," he joked.

An unexpectedly sad smile crossed Jinx's face. "Yeah," she said softly. "I miss it sometimes. But... it's never gonna go back to being like it was back then, so I guess we just have to forget about it and move on. That, and I got cops to mess with," she joked weakly.

"You're right," Ekko responded after a long pause, and sighed. "On both counts. I just can't help but wonder what things would've been like if Vi hadn't left, and Ajuna…"

He trailed off and stole a glance at Jinx; her eyes were fixed to the ground, and she was shivering.

Ekko lightly nudged her with his elbow. "Hey," he murmured, starting to take off his jacket. "Put this on."

Before he could finish taking it off, Jinx shuffled over until their arms were touching, and wrapped the jacket around her outer arm so that it was draped over them both.

Ekko broke the following silence. "Sorry," he began. "We see each other so rarely that it's a shame to be talking about sad stuff. Especially when there are plenty of good memories too, like that sewage-powered grill we tried to build which ended up just disintegrating everything put near it and making the place smell like dead rat."

Jinx's smile started to return. "Yeah, you're right. Like, blowing stuff up is great, don't get me wrong, but a lot of the stuff we did back then was pretty great too. I wouldn't take it back even if I had the chance."

She rested her head on Ekko's shoulder, letting out a combination of a hum and a sigh.

"But I'm glad you never left me." She murmured.

"That's because you'd probably shoot me if I tried," Ekko quipped playfully.

He turned his head slightly towards Jinx. "You know that you mean a lot to me, right? I probably would've ended up just another dead street kid without you guys."

She smiled slightly. "Well, you're not too bad yourself. There are worse people to hang out with."

Ekko lightly elbowed her with a smirk, "Thanks, I'll treasure that always."

A blinding spotlight lit up the shore and the sound of sirens began to echo around the cliffside. Instinctively, both champions jumped to their feet, Jinx grabbing Ekko's hand and pulling him back towards the maze-like alleyways of Zaun. Eventually they reached a shack on the outskirts of the city that was more run-down that the Zaun average, confirming that it was abandoned. The sound of rats fleeing could be heard as the two slipped inside and ducked behind a dusty counter. Enough light came in from outside that the champions could see reasonably well, but it wasn't light enough to make out detail, and it was unlikely that anything within could be made out from the outside.

Catching his breath, Ekko turned to Jinx. "Still glad you blew up all those zeppelins?" He teased.

Jinx stuck her tongue out at him. "Hey, I've never been caught before- Hat Lady and her friends are way too dopey to even come close. And yes, actually, I am glad, so there."

He laughed. Of course she wasn't going to regret it, she never reconsidered anything she did. "Maybe just make it a little less visible to the public next time then, so I don't get roped into it as well."

"But Ekko, that's all part of the fun! Crime is way better with a sidekick." She said with a wicked glint in her eye.

"Well I'm sorry to say that you'll need to find another sidekick, because as fun as it does indeed sound, I'd rather not end up in jail." He said sarcastically.

Jinx rolled her eyes. "You're so boring!" She whined. "It's totally fun when you actually try it. Gives you a real kick, ya know?"

"I think I'd rather stick to getting my kicks from legal activities, but I do appreciate the offer." He grinned as Jinx shook her head in disappointment. "Just… be careful, alright? I've lost enough friends already, I don't need one in jail or, you know…" Ekko winced at the thought.

"It's fine, it's fine!" Jinx waved a hand dismissively. "The cops here are super dumb, remember! There's no way they'll ever get their fat hands on me!"

He groaned at her confidence, which was definitely not lacking. "I hope you're right."

The noise of the sirens had been getting increasingly louder as they hid, and Jinx got to her feet.

"Guess I better head off," she said. "Can't disappoint Hat Lady and her friends, and that noise is starting to bug me."

Ekko laughed and stood up as well. "Just try not to blow too much stuff up, okay? I wanna get a decent sleep tonight."

Jinx laughed and waved to him before turning to leave. "Yeah yeah, whatever you say, mom. Well, guess I'll see ya around!"

Impulsively pulling the chain on his Z-Drive, Ekko took a step forward and grabbed her hand just as she started to walk out the door. Jinx turned around, confused, with no time to react before Ekko pulled her into a kiss. For several moments she didn't react, and Ekko felt his heart sink slightly, even though the lack of reaction was exactly what he'd been expecting. Another agonizing second went by, and then Jinx parted her lips slightly and placed her arms around his neck, sighing into the kiss.  
Every vein in Ekko's body felt electric, and his heart rattled enough to put Jinx's minigun to shame at the feeling of her sinking into him. He tightened his hold on her waist slightly, pulling her closer and closing the small distance left between them. Jinx moved with him, every individual motion, every touch, making it feel like time had stopped.  
Her fingers wandered down Ekko's chest, leaving trails of fire, before running them down his arms lightly enough to give him goosebumps. As she reached his hands, she realized that one of them was holding on to the switch for the Z-Drive.

Slowly, Jinx pulled away from him. She looked up at Ekko with a pained expression. "You were going to rewind?" She asked, her voice quivering.

"I- I didn't think you would-" Ekko began anxiously. "I mean, I didn't want to make things-"

Jinx cut him off with another kiss; it was brief, but laden with unspoken feelings. As she broke away, she met his eyes with a clouded expression and a weak smile.

"Sometimes it's nicer to see what happens next," she said, and slipped out the door into the winding streets of Zaun.

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Lol can u tell I have never written a kiss scene before I'm so sorry

Thanks for reading though ahah, if you have any recommendations for improvement please do let me know!


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